Natasha Perry and Johnny Santer have shared a deeply painful experience. Now they want to ensure no one else suffers as they have.
08:04, 04 May 2026Updated 08:08, 04 May 2026
Natasha Perry and Johnny Santer who both lost their sons when they each individually fell from multi-storey car parks(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Natasha Perry and Johnny Santer have lots in common. They are both parents to boys who had their own unique personalities, who enjoyed skateboarding and who knew some of the same friends. Tragically, the two parents are fused together because their boys both died in remarkably similar and traumatic circumstances.
Gabriel Santer was just 15-years-old when he fell to his death from the Hanover Street Q Park in Liverpool City Centre on October 3 2020. On March 14 in 2025, Josh Perry died at the age of 21 after falling from the 19th floor of the Liverpool Central car park in Renshaw Street.
Both young men were intoxicated and highly vulnerable when they died and their parents are adamant that their deaths were entirely preventable. They are both calling for a change in the law to stop other people falling to their deaths in this city and around the country.
Speaking out for the first time since Josh’s inquest, Natasha told the ECHO that she is joining Johnny’s existing campaign for a so-called Gabe’s Law, which seeks to raise the existing legal minimum height of safety barriers on the top levels of multi-storey car parks from 1.1 metres to 2.7 metres.
Both Johnny and Natasha believe taller railings around these structures would have prevented the tragic deaths of their sons and would stop others from losing their lives in such traumatic circumstances.
Natasha Perry who lost her son Josh when he fell from a multi-storey car park.(Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
Following the conclusion of Josh’s inquest in March, Coroner Helen Rimmer issued a Prevention of Future Deaths Report, which suggested there is confusion about existing building regulations when it comes to the minimum height of barriers and that future deaths could occur unless action is taken.
Natasha says that her son would be alive today if the barriers at the car park he fell from were higher and if he had not been in the vulnerable state he was in at the time, as he was intoxicated on the drug ketamine.
“The height restriction is really low, the legal limit,” she explained. “Josh was 6ft 4, so it was really low for him. Plus it had the horizontal ladders and a step. It was like a step on a ladder.
“Josh should not have even been able to get up to those floors, he staggered into that car park. He was vulnerable. He clearly wasn’t going to get into a car and if he was, he wasn’t in a fit state to drive, so he should have been stopped.
“I feel like, if security would have intervened sooner or he had been stopped, well he would have come to his senses. Ketamine lasts for half an hour, he might have been hallucinating, I don’t know exactly what was going on, but I do know he was like a space cadet when he was on that drug, he would be bouncing around, he would be out of sorts.”
Josh’s inquest heard that he had started taking ketamine when he was 17 and his addiction got worse over the subsequent years. His mum said circumstances in his life had caused him to fall further into drug use.
Having become passionate about rugby, he was playing for Widnes Vikings’ development squad, which he loved, before the pandemic caused him to be let go and transferred to Warrington.
Josh Perry died in March 2025 after falling from a multi-storey car park on Renshaw Street, Liverpool(Image: Supplied Pic)
“He didn’t like it there at all,” explained Natasha. “It was around then when he started taking that drug. He was hanging around with skaters in Liverpool city centre and they were all experimenting. It was really hard to know what was going on with him, I was doubting myself.”
Not wanting drugs in her house, with a younger daughter to think about, Natasha said she had to demand that Josh spent time away from the family home in a hotel when his addiction had worsened. Then one fateful Friday, police arrived at her door.
“It was the Friday evening when I was told that Josh had died. I wasn’t in but I saw the police at my door on my camera,” she explained.” She is convinced her son hadn’t intended to end his life, adding: “He was staying at the hotel, all his stuff was laid out and his Ipad was on charge, you don’t do that if you are planning to end your life.”
This is another difficult similarity between Josh’s and Gabe’s cases. Gabriel was intoxicated with alcohol when he fell from the car park. Just 20 minutes earlier he had messaged his mum to say what he wanted for tea.
Johnny Santer and his son Gabriel, who died after falling from a multi-story car park in Liverpool
For both parents, the knowledge that a higher barrier around a car park could have stopped their disorientated children from falling to their deaths is heartbreaking. For Johnny, the fact that six years on from his son’s passing – and after years of campaigning for a change in the law that has not arrived – more people are dying in this manner, is excruciating for the bereaved dad.
“We have been at this for three years and to still see other preventable deaths like Josh’s is traumatising and triggering. What more do we need to say? Josh and Gabe should be with us today and it is only the government failing to put this law into place that means we are continuing to see these preventable deaths.”
The campaign has made its way into Parliament on multiple occasions, most recently last July when Prime Minister Keir Starmer committed to a call for evidence on minimum guarding heights in response to Bootle MP Peter Dowd, who is championing Gabe’s Law. But that was 10 months ago and there has been little progress since.
The two parents have found strength through each other’s shared experience. Following Johnny’s advice, Natasha was represented by eminent human rights barrier Christian Weaver at Josh’s inquest, who managed to get her a verdict she was satisfied with and the Prevention of Future Deaths Report.
Johnny Santer who lost his son when he fell from a multi-storey car park. (Image: Colin Lane/Liverpool Echo)
“Without Johnny and Christian we wouldn’t have got the verdict we wanted,” she explained.
Johnny added: “I didn’t have that privilege. I was rushed into Gabriel’s inquest, I didn’t have a clue what we were doing. They expected me to be at an inquest two days before my first Christmas without my son. You just feel like they want to get it done and not have any difficult questions.
“We need a wider conversation about who these inquests are really for, because it feels like a tick box exercise at times. The system is not set up to benefit the people it is supposed to benefit.”
He added: “The beauty of a city like Liverpool is you are always one degree of separation from someone and I am so glad I was able reach out to Tasha through a family member.”
Now these two bereaved parents will need to gather all of their shared pain and the love and passion they have for their sons as they strive to change the law and stop anyone else losing loved ones in such a harrowing and preventable manner.
“It’s simple,” added Natasha: “If those barriers had been as high as Gabe’s Law is calling for then Josh wouldn’t have fallen to his death.”
“Everyone is sticking their heads in the sand and hiding behind the current legislation,” explained Johnny. “That’s why we have to get the law changed.”
Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.
PAPYRUS (0800 068 41 41) is an organisation supporting teenagers and young adults who are feeling suicidal.Mind (0300 123 3393) is a charity providing advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. They campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding.